CC Sabathia leaves the game in the fourth inning of Game 4. / Matt Slocum AP

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

DETROIT - There will be no more games for third baseman Alex Rodriguez to scour the stands looking for dates.

There will be no more afternoons for manager Joe Girardi to torturously explain his latest lineup.

There will be no more nights for general manager Brian Cashman to painfully watch the most expensive lineup in baseball look like a bunch of fantasy campers trying to hit against their idols.

The New York Yankees' season, after their 8-1 defeat Thursday to the Detroit Tigers, is mercifully over.

The Yankees were swept away for the winter Thursday, not only losing 4-0 to the Tigers in the American League Championship Series, but getting utterly humiliated in defeat.

Almost all of them were inept. One of them will carry an extra burden.

Alex Rodriguez will be the scapegoat for this Yankee demise. He hit just .120. He was 2-for-18 with 12 strikeouts against right-handed pitchers. He was benched three times, pinch-hit for three times and caught once (as reported by the New York Post, and confirmed to USA TODAY Sports by a Yankee front-office official) trying to pick up women during Game 1 of the ALCS. The official spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

He was brought in as a pinch-hitter Thursday, and failed twice again.

As for the whole lot of Yankees? It's the first time since 1976 that they have been swept in a best-of-seven series, and their .157 batting average was the worst in any postseason series in their proud history.

They not only failed to win a game, they never led a single inning, only the fifth team in postseason history to suffer the fate.

The Yankees may have won 95 games to win the American League East, outlasted the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Division Series, but in a matter of seven days, looked sadly inept.

They scored a grand total of one run in the first eight innings of all their games against the Tigers.

The Tigers' rotation looked like Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Walter Johnson and Cy Young against the imposters wearing Yankee uniforms. They yielded a 1.02 ERA in the series, striking out 66 batters in 612/3 innings.

"I don't know how to explain it," said right fielder Nick Swisher, who hit .167 with two RBI. "This is the worst interview of the year. We're not an excuse type of team. We just didn't get it done."

So what did happen?

"That's for you guys to figure out," Swisher said. "It's just a tough situation here. But we're going to walk out of here with our heads held high knowing we had a great season."

The Yankees were classy in defeat in their somber clubhouse. Eric Chavez, who set a Yankee record by failing to produce a hit in 16 at-bats in the postseason, was the first one seen walking out the door. There were a couple of others. Yet all of their star players answered questions.

That includes Rodriguez, who stood in a room off the clubhouse and patiently answered questions for about 20 minutes.

And, oh yes, just in case you're wondering, he insists he'll be back.

The Yankees front office may want him gone, along with the rest of New York, too, but Rodriguez holds the trump card.

He has a complete no-trade clause and says he plans to exercise it, if asked. Sorry, New York, he says he's not going anywhere.

"That's correct," Rodriguez said. "I have a lot to prove. And I'll come back on a mission."

"You can write all of the negative things we want," Rodriguez said. "'This guy's done. This guy got fired. Let's rip this guy.' It's New York.

"But in the last four years, we won more games than any team in the American League and went to the ALCS three times and won one world championship.

"Overall, that's pretty good."

It's just not good enough. Not in New York. Not where anything less than a World Series championship is considered a failure.

"You think this is a train wreck?" Swisher said, raising his voice. "There's only one happy team at the end of the year. It's just not us."

There will be changes. Swisher, a free agent, says he wants to come back, but the Yankees don't have the same sentiment and are expected to offer only a one-year contract to assure a draft pick. Center fielder Curtis Granderson, who has one year remaining, hit .100 in the postseason with 16 strikeouts in 30 at-bats and likely will be shopped.

The Yankees watched ace CC Sabathia get battered for 11 hits and six runs (five earned) in 22/3 innings, reminding them how desperate they are for starting pitching. But the free agent class is woefully thin, particularly after Cole Hamels signed a $144 million deal to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Yankees spent $423 million on a free-agent spending spree when they missed the playoffs in 2008. Money isn't going to cure the Yankees' problems this time.

"We got a good team, we got Hall of Famers and All-Stars in here," said second baseman Robinson Cano, who hit .075 in the playoffs. "We just didn't hit. That's not like us. We got to forget about what happened, and put it out of our mind."

But, like A-Rod says, it's New York. New York never forgets."You're crushed, but no excuses," Rodriguez said. "I've got to look in the mirror."